


You Were Sweet All Along

by Sylenis



Series: Don't be a Stranger (Kidge AU) [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Matt/Shiro, Christmas Fluff, Everyone is of age, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Hot Cocoa, I know some people don't do that, Ice Skating, Pidge is a terrible flirt, Post S8, background allurance, but Pidge refers to Green as a girl, early relationship awkwardness, early relationship jitters, female pronouns for the lions I guess?, little f bomb, posting out of order I'm sorry, winter fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 23:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17887067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylenis/pseuds/Sylenis
Summary: "You want to skate?""I want to skate with you." Pidge turned to smile at him and his breath caught in his throat. Her eyes were bright and her smile was the perfect balance of sweet with a dash of wicked and he'd follow her anywhere she wanted to go, to the ends of the universe. Thankfully she didn't want to go too far, just to the booth that sectioned off rows of shelves for skates and shoes.A little peek into the Keith/Pidge early days. (yes I'll finish Winter Solstice very soon- the last two chapters are drafted)Please God help me name things. HELP ME.





	You Were Sweet All Along

**Author's Note:**

> *  
> I went skating. I love skating. Therefore I will write about skating. I also love Christmas markets bc they have good food.  
> Will I ever stop feeding Keith. NEVER. ALWAYS FEED THE KEEF.
> 
> Think of this as part 2.5 of the AU, taking place between the unposted chapters 6 and 7. YES I SHOULD PROBABLY WAIT TO POST THIS BUT WINTER AND I'M EXCITED AND I LOVE KIDGE SO MUCH. I promise I have the chapters drafted out and nearly done but I need to figure some last bits out.

 

*

 Of course Allura looked like a professional out there. She towered over most of the humans, white hair flying around her as she span Lance in circles. A picture of strength and grace, they weren't the only ones watching- many people were hanging over the rails, or slowing down on the ice as they passed her to watch her dance across the ice. Nobody else however, could match the awe and love on Lance's face as they spiraled around each other.   
  
Pidge was leaning on the rails, watching Allura and Lance and waving to Matt and Shiro.   
"You not going out there?" She looked up at Keith as though surprised he was there.  
"Oh- I'm not sure. There's a lot of people out there, I'd hate to cause a pileup. What about you?"

"I've never skated before." He shrugged, and Pidge tipped her head.   
"Never? But- oh no that's right, you weren't there for Coran's ice show." She grinned suddenly, "Allura played you instead." Keith eyed Allura, gliding on one leg, hair and skirt streaming behind her like banners.  
  
"At least she made me look good." He said, and she nudged him.  
"Keith do you want to go?" He looked out, watching Allura and Lance showing off, Matt and Shiro arm in arm, and Hunk helping Romelle untangle her scarf, the pair of them laughing. Other people he didn't know, lovers holding hands, parents guiding children, friends squealing as they bumped into each other. He bit his lip. There didn't seem to be many people out there on their own, and he could tell Pidge was fidgeting to go.  
  
"It seems a... couple kinda thing to do." He said finally, deliberately averting his gaze.   
"Oh." There was a pause as Pidge looked at the artificially frosted tree in the middle of the rink, then back to him. "Come on."  
"What?"  
"Let's go rent some skates." She tugged on his arm and he let her lead him across to the booth.  
"You want to skate?"  
"I want to skate _with you_." Pidge turned to smile at him and his breath caught in his throat. Her eyes were bright and her smile was the perfect balance of sweet with a dash of wicked and he'd follow her anywhere she wanted to go, to the ends of the universe. Thankfully she didn't want to go too far, just to the booth that sectioned off rows of shelves for skates and shoes.  
"Alright, let's do this."  
  
*  
  
"OK, this doesn't seem so hard." The skates made Keith tower over her as she sat on the bench, lacing her own on.  
"You say that now, wait until you get on the ice. It's slippery." Pidge stood up and tugged her gloves back on. He smirked.  
"What a revelation from our resident genius; 'ice is slippery'."  
She snorted as they picked their way over to the gap in the railings. Leaning against the white plastic, she watched as Keith stepped down, and his heel immediately slipped forwards and he slammed his butt onto the ice with a horrible thump, legs straight out in front of him.  
  
"What the  _fuck_." He blurted, the indignant look on his face and in his voice had Pidge doubled over laughing.

  
"Oh jeez, I'm sorry- Sorry! Are you OK?" He glared up at her as she wheezed, shoulders shaking and holding out a hand to help him up. He planted a hand on his knee to push back up into a standing position, though his blades wandered a little on their own, he remained upright this time.   
  
"Ice is slippery, Keith." Her lips were still twitching as he pouted.  
"I noticed, Pidge." He countered, wiping the fluffy ice debris from his jeans.  
  
"Here." Pidge took one gloved hand in hers, and planted her blades firmly on the ice. "you ever roller bladed before?"  
"Nope." 

  
"OK then. Watch my feet. You want to angle them like this so you can push off almost sideways."   
Looking down at both their feet, he copied her movements as they made their way to join the stream of skaters circling the rink. Once he found his balance it was definitely not that hard. Pidge let go of his hand so she could watch him, assessing him, from the expression on her face.  
  
"It's easier if you can pick up a little bit of speed." She drifted around to his other side. "This is way more fun when I don't have to wear a cardboard lion on my head."  
"The Blades got a few transmissions of some shows," Keith reached out for her hand again, "but I never saw any of the ice skating."  
"And for that I'm thankful." She was grinning up at him, fingers squeezing his hand. "You've got the hang of this really quickly, not that I'm surprised or anything."  
"It's not that hard." He wobbled a little as someone shot past him a little too close, "when people can stay out of my space."  
  
"Enjoying yourselves?" Matt and Shiro had caught up to them, and Matt sailed ahead, spinning to skate backwards so he could face them while talking.  
"Don't show off, Matt." Pidge said as Shiro drew level on Keith's other side.   
"Hard to believe a nerd like you is so graceful." Keith shot at Matt, and Shiro snickered as he held onto Keith's sleeve.  
  
"Two years of skating lessons will do that for you. That and half a decade of rebellion combat training." Matt circled back round and linked his arm with Shiro's metal one. "Come on baby, let's leave these two to their date."  
"Bye guys," Pidge waved as Keith turned red and grabbed further up her arm instinctively to stop himself tripping.   
"Matt just said-"  
"I know." Pidge swung around, his hand still in hers and took his other one, moving backwards the same way as Matt had just before. "You already said this seemed like a 'couple' thing?"  
  
Matt and Shiro were slowly spinning circles near the tree in the middle, going slow to accommodate for Shiro's attempts to find a new balance with his arm. Matt had his hands in Shiro's, and was kissing the knuckles on his metal hand between chatting and laughing. Keith watched them for a moment, before looking back ahead, pretending to be focusing on where they were going.  
"I did, didn't I?"  
"And here we are. Two of us. A... couple of people."  
"Yeah."   
"If you like, we could call this one. A date, I mean."   
"With everyone else around?"  
"Keeping it casual, obviously. But only if you want."

"I think I'd like that." He gave her a shy smile that was interrupted when a gaggle of children slid past, giggling and shrieking. "Jeez-" She grabbed his arm to steady him.  
"Watch it-! And uh.. yeah. Me too. I'd like that too."   
  
"How long before I can skate backwards?"  
"Well..."  
  
*  
  
"I think this is the best hot chocolate ever." Pidge breathed in deep. "Coffee liqueur? Genius."  
"You've got cream on your nose." Keith pointed out, and stopped walking so that she could dab at her face, completely missing the blob of cream and sprinkles. "Wait- here-" He reached out and swiped it off with his thumb. He licked his thumb and she grinned up at him.  
"If you wanted a taste you could have asked." He flushed and took a sip of his own cocoa flavored with a shot of something alcoholic and peppermint to keep from having to think of a witty comeback.   
  
The market stalls were crowded, clouds of steam swirled down this particular path where the food and drink stands were set up. Keith kept Pidge close, a hand on her back to keep her from getting swept off into the waves of people as they walked slowly with their drinks. She kept close, trying not to get bumped by people bustling past or whipped by scarves and shopping bags, but was also highly distracted by the wagons and waving to people she recognised.    
  
"Oh- come look at these." Pidge turned to hook her arm around his elbow and pull him towards a wooden stand. Set up on angled, paper displays were what looked like rows of... Highly rusted tools. Dark brown spanners, hammers and nuts and bolts flecked and uneven with bronze rust.  
"They're chocolate!" Pidge was pressing a finger to the glass. "I always used to get these for Matt and my Dad."   
"That's food?" Keith stared at a brown wrench, then at the back of Pidge's head and back to the wrench. "But they look-"  
  
"Great, aren't they?" She glanced up at him, before handing over coins to the stall owner in exchange for a paper package of chocolate tools. "I'll get them now, because we might end up back here if everyone decides to eat at the market, and I don't want Matt to see. Hold my drink?"   
He took her foam cup and watched her stow the package into her bag. Once safe, she beamed up at him and took her drink back.  
  
"Is there anything you want to see?"  
He glanced around, at the rows and rows of stalls that were decorated and attracting crowds of people, brightly coloured streamers and merchandise fluttering from the roofs.   
"I'm... not sure. Can we just walk?"  
"Sounds good." She offered her arm and he took it, letting her pick the direction.   
  
"How's your butt?" Pidge asked conversationally.  
"Pidge, come on." He grumbled as she giggled.  
"What? It's called small talk."  
"It's fine." He paused, "I'm a bit stiff."  
"Using muscles you aren't used to needing?"  
"Maybe." Keith stopped walking, and gestured with his half filled cup. "Hey, look." A swarm of people had parted a little to reveal a stall full of-  
  
"Lions?" They wandered closer to the stand, where brightly coloured plush lions were suspended from the canopy, racks of keychains were spinning as customers clamoured for their favourite colour. There were stacks of bookmarks, wooden carvings and figurines, prints and postcards and mugs. The same repeating colours of Black, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green overpowered the stands- colours that had been what caught Keith's eye- with pink, purple and white peppered in throughout.  
  
"Oh wow." Pidge picked up a wooden replica of her lion. "They got all her details just right."  
"Speak for yourself." Keith held up a squishy, loaf shaped soft toy of the Black Lion. "Black is way more angular than this. And not as goofy looking."   
"I bet Allura would like one of these." Pidge was poking at one of the loaf dolls, inspecting a pink one. "I know there's no pink Lion but this is super cute and so fluffy."   
  
Pidge began piling soft toys and keychains into her arms, but they quickly began to overflow, and Keith stepped closer, and took them from her. Instead she began stacking her gifts in his arms, and he waited patiently as she ummed and ahhed over colours, sizes and pairs of socks that had been hiding on the opposite end of the stall.  
  
With each new item she found her face lit up with joy and she would whip around to show him, hair flying around her face and smile wide. A pair of pink boxers with a pattern of flying lions had her laughing out loud, head tossed back, before adding them to the bundle for Matt.   
Her laughter was infectious and each chuckle had him smiling too. He contented himself with juggling the trinkets and toys and watching the way her hair curled around her scarf and shoulders, wild and frizzy from the cold weather.   
  
"You prefer to wear red or black?"  
"Oh- you don't have to get me anything."  
"I want to." Pidge held up two pairs of socks, both with the same pattern of lion heads, but one pair had a red background, the other black.  
"Pidge..."  
"I could get you blue instead if you don't pick a colour. Green?"  
"Fine, black." When she looked surprised, he shrugged. "The red is too flashy for socks."  
  
She popped the black socks on top of the steadily growing pile in his arms and turned to fish through the tub for a yellow set. When she finally finished and made her purchases, her backpack was bulging and the flap at the top was straining against its fastenings. Keith had filled his jacket pocket with keyrings and the black socks.   
  
"Guess I went a little crazy."   
"Just a little." He patted his jacket and it clinked merrily. "That seller loved you."  
"Yeah, because I cleared out half his shelves." Pidge finished tucking more trinkets into the pockets of her jeans and looked back up at him.  
  
"Listen - I know you don't have endless patience."   
"Pidge-"   
"So if you get bored, or annoyed with me just say-"   
"Pidge I'm fine" he cut in, and she stopped talking. "This is nice. Just getting to chill with you- a-and everyone else. It's nice to spend time with you that doesn't involve running from something, or at something, or blowing something up."   
"I can arrange any and all of those things for you if you want." Pidge smirked up at him, reaching to take his arm and leave the stall, but Keith glanced back at the shelves.  
  
"Did you get yourself anything?"  
"Oh- no, not really."  
"What do you want?" He stepped back closer to the displays, but Pidge stayed where she was, letting her arm stretch to stay hand in hand with him.  
"You don't need to buy me anything, Keith."  
"I want to." He echoed her earlier words "What do you want?"  
  
She tipped her head, looking up at him thoughtfully.   
"I want... To go to a holiday fair with all my friends." She said, giving him a smile that turned shy. "And maybe I can convince a sweet guy to go skating with me, and then to walk around with me and put up with my mad present buying frenzy."  
"Pidge, be reasonable." He blew his hair up out of his eyes, unable to help the half smile pulling at his mouth. "For a start I don't know where we'll find a 'sweet guy'."  
  
"Oh that's a shame." Pidge sighed theatrically, shrugging her shoulders. "I was really hoping I could find one willing to hold my hand and drink gourmet hot chocolate with me. And maybe if we can find a quiet spot later on, he could kiss me." She laid the back of her hand over her tipped back forehead, sighing again and looking up at him out of one open eye.  
"You're sure you don't know any tall, dark and handsome guys who might be interested?"  
  
"OK, now I know you're definitely describing Hunk, not me." At that she laughed, dropping her long-suffering frown and letting him guide her back to the stall.  
"You liked this one, didn't you?" He picked up the wooden green lion. It was posed as if running, and really was rather detailed. He passed it to her and she turned it over in her fingers, tracing the shield set between her shoulders, and the ridges in the tail. She closed her eyes, passing finger tips between the ears and down the spine like petting a small cat.  
  
"If I close my eyes I can almost hear her in my head."  
"Oh, Pidge- I didn't mean to-" Keith put his hands on her shoulders, stepping up behind her. He thought of the hollow feeling he got whenever he visited Black, sitting proud, but empty in the hangar. Those yellow eyes dim and unmoving. The loneliness in seeing her proud face, but unable to hear her speaking to him.

Pidge had just bought half the stall, but all her gifts had been cartoony renditions- fluffy lions in bright colours and soft edges that looked more like a caricature or novelty found in a toy shop. The statue in her hands was a replica, a reminder. He squeezed her shoulders gently.  
"It's OK, I'm alright. If they wake up, that means everyone is in danger. As long as they're asleep... That's a good thing."  
  
Keith bent to kiss the top of her head from where he stood behind her. "Do you want to go?"   
  
She turned the lion over one more time, contemplating its silver belly. "Did you still want to get her for me?" Her voice was quiet, and he inclined his head closer, his cheek to her ear to listen.  
"If you want her, yes. I'll get her."  
"Yeah. I want her." She turned her head and pressed her mouth to his jaw to reply. "I'm alright, I promise." He nodded against her cheek, and stood up to wave to the human manning the stand.  
  
*  
  
"She can live on my desk at home." Pidge tucked mini-Green, wrapped carefully in paper, into an inside pocket.  
"Yeah?"  
"Pride of place. Course, I'll have to clean my desk off first." He laughed and held his hand out. Pidge took it and he curled her around into his arm so that she had to rest her chin on his chest to look up at him.  
"So now I just need to find you... what was it? A tall, dark and handsome guy?"  
"I can settle for you if you fail."  
"Oh how kind of you." He drawled as they made their way through the path, Pidge tucked up against him. He was vaguely aware that the rest of their party were around, and could possibly see, but right now he didn't much care. Let them find out.   
  
"Well, most people are tall when standing next to me, as much as I hate to admit it." She was continuing, back to her usual self. "So that's an easy box to check."  
"It eliminates anyone under twelve years old, at least." He grunted a laugh when she elbowed him.  
"You're mean. I was going to say you can put yourself in the handsome category, but now I'm rethinking it."  
"Does this mean I'm out of the running?"  
  
"Hmn," Pidge stopped and turned to face him, contemplating him. "I might be able to forgive that one transgression." People were shoving past them both, so he walked them both backwards until they were nearly in between two stalls, out of the way of incoming traffic.  
"Oh yeah?" She was standing on the toes of her army boots, hands snaking up around his neck to play with his ponytail. He closed one hand around hers, and let the other pull her even closer around her waist under her backpack. Her fingers curled through the ends of his hair, twirling the locks. "I'm beginning to think you have a thing for my hair."  
She immediately pulled a face, turning red and letting go. "I- well... I'd say it can go in the final category, under 'dark'. Two out of three isn't bad. It's passable."  
  
"You're dodging the-" He started, but she pulled him down until they were nose to nose and he shut his mouth and tilted his head to kiss her. The coffee was faint on her breath, the sweetness from the cocoa setting off sparks in his chest. Her hands cupped his face, fingertips combing along his hairline as her tongue traced across his lips. 

The gifts in his pockets weren't exactly comfortable when they were pressed together, but it wasn't enough to stop him from grinning as he kissed his way from her mouth to her cheek.   
When he drew back from a kiss to her cheekbone she used one hand to guide him back to her lips for one last slow kiss.  
  
"You taste like mint and chocolate." She mumbled against his lips, eyes glinting gold in the close proximity and he smirked back at her. "I knew you were sweet all along."

 

*

**Author's Note:**

> This started about skating and ended up with waay more details on the market. Oops. Keith falling on his ass had me laughing in public. I hope it makes other people laugh.
> 
> I feed on comments and kudos and validaaaationnnn D:>
> 
> One of the alt.endings I like the idea of is using the quintessence of the Lions themselves to repair realities. Then I had the sad sad idea that the physical frames of the lions are intact, but the energy that powered them is gone... for now. And so they sit, kept safe but unusable. Which is worse than them disappearing bc they're still there and the paladins can see them and visit them, but they're offline.


End file.
